Babies and Feet

Why is it that we find a baby's feet so cute? When they are first born, we look at their little feet. They are just feet, there is nothing special about them. When we get older, a lot of people find feet repulsive. But not little babies. Hayden is in a really cute "feet" stage. He plays with them all the time. He has been doing this for about a month. It is so cute to watch him lying on his back with his feet in his hands. Something else he does with his feet is suck on his toes. Again, I find this so cute, but if my 2 year old or 4 year old did this, they would get in trouble. I don't know what it is, but I just love a baby's feet!

Updates

We have had a really good summer so far. The weather has been very good for us to enjoy some fun pool time, good walks, and a lot of baseball in the yard. The kids keep growing up so fast. They are learning and doing more and more things everyday!

Elijah:

He is really in to baseball. He wants to watch it on tv, go to games, play it outside and inside...anything he can do that involves baseball--he is there. Right now he says that he wants to be a catcher for MU when he grows up. We have only been to 2 MU baseball games ever! Every time we go to the mall, he wants to go to MC Sports so that he can look at the catcher's gear. Last time we went there, I let him try it on. He was super excited. Next summer I think we will sign him up to play here in Columbia. We will have to see how much time it will involve. We don't want it to take away from things that are more important. As of right now, baseball is all he talks about. We will see what happens when football season starts again. :)

He is doing a fantastic job writing. He wants to write letters to people all the time. He loves to draw pictures and color. He is getting really good at coloring. We are starting to focus more on reading...basic phonics. His counting is great and he is able to add and subtract fairly well. This year for his schooling will be mainly focused on reading.

Preston:

He has been completely potty trained now. I was amazed and am still in shock at how quickly he was able get out of diapers! It also takes some financial burden off of us now, too. He is still not talking. He just has a few words. He uses a lot of signs to communicate with us. He understands all of the language, but just isn't speaking many words yet. I am not worried, he will talk when he is ready. He is beginning to color and draw circles and lines. He knows some colors and can count a little. (Even though he is not saying words, I can tell that he knows these things. :)

He loves to do anything Elijah does. He wants to be like his big brother. So, baseball is really fun for him, too. He is usually the batter, Elijah is the catcher, and Randy or I am the pitcher. We have a lot of fun playing with them. Unfortunately, Preston has hit Elijah in the head with the bat on two occasions now...and I do not believe they were accidents.

Hayden:

It is hard to believe that Hayden is 5 1/2 months old now! It is crazy how fast times goes by. He is doing very well. He has been rolling over both ways since he was 3 months old. He can sit up, and he is beginning to crawl...the type of crawl with his belly still on the ground. So we have a few more weeks before he really starts moving. I have been trying to collect up all of the small toys the two older boys play with and get them put away before he can get into them.

He has always seemed to have issues with sleeping at nighttime since he was born. He will have a few good nights and then a few really bad nights in which he wakes up 2-3 times. Thankfully, the last 3 nights have been great! Hopefully it is a new trend. He laughs and smiles all the time. He has been drooling constantly for about 1 month. He soaks 3 bibs a day with his drool. But, no teeth yet. I just started feeding him cereal last week.

Elijah and Preston have adjusted to him well. It took about 2 months for things to settle into a good pattern and for this adjustment to take place. But now, they are very helpful and love to make him laugh. They are both getting better at being obedient, but we still have our normal everyday obedience issues. They are also very competitive. We are really working on this area...it causes a lot of problems sometimes.

I am getting ready to start up my online teaching job again in August. Last year I taught part-time. This year I will have a full-time status. I am going to still work at home the majority of the time, however, I will go into work for a few hours 2 days a week. My mom is going to help out with watching the kids.

Randy has been putting in a lot of long hours at his job. At times, it is very trying on him. He doesn't enjoy the multiple tick bites, mosquito bites, poison ivy, and everything else that comes along with walking through brush. Sometimes it seems that he is one big red, swollen bite. We are very thankful, though, that he has a job.

Our family is growing and changing everyday. Once we get used to a pattern for one kid, it seems that another pattern is developing in another kid. I am really trying to enjoy each of the children at each of their ages. At times it is hard...I want to say "I wish he was this age" or "I wish he could do this already". But I have been really trying to enjoy "the now".

St. Louis Zoo 2009

Looking at the alligators!

Turning 30

I turned 30 last month. I feel good, I have a great family...it is great to be 30! The Lord has blessed me in so many ways. I couldn't have asked for anything more.

Hayden pictures

He really didn't like his bath!

Me and my 3 boys!!!

Preston turned 2

Preston had his second birthday on February 20. We were able to take some time and celebrate it even though things were busy. He is growing up so fast. He is still not talking, but it will come...I am not worried. He is a wonderful blessing to our family!

Busy times

Well, we have been very busy the last few weeks. Our lives have changed, and we are having to work on the adjustments.
When we brought Hayden home from the hospital, his billirubin counts were too high, so we had to keep taking him back to the hospital each day to test the levels in his blood. His levels were high enough that he had to be on a billi-blanket at home. We had to go to the hospital for 10 days in a row to get this blood test done before his levels were low enough that he could get off of the special blanket that he was on. This was very exhausting for me! My strength was not at its normal level, and I was having to take all three boys to the hospital everyday! There were a few times that Randy was able to go with me to help. I was very thankful for that. Finally though, after 10 days, we were done! Not only were the hospital trips exhausting, but because Hayden was attached to this "special-blanket", he was not able to sleep in his bed. He had to sleep on the floor. Also, the doctor's strongly suggested that he be watched while he was sleeping because of the cords attached to him. So, I was sleeping on the floor with him. This did not help with my exhaustion!
Now, on top of the regular hospital trips for the blood test, we also had to make 3 trips to the ER during the those few weeks! And you know that the ER always takes forever!! The first trip was for Hayden. He began to spit up a lot of blood. This was very alarming! He was in the hospital for most of the day for observation. Everything ended up being okay. The doctors said he had swallowed blood from me, and he was spitting it up. Who knew!!
The second and third trips were both for me. I was having some post-partum issues. Both cases were taken care of with medicine. However the medicine I was given for the second issue had terrible side effects and basically left me in a non-functioning state for a few days. But I survived and am doing very well now. My strength is finally back to normal and I am getting more sleep...enough to be okay.
Other issues that we have been dealing with are of course are the behavior changes in the two older boys due to Hayden's arrival. Elijah especially has been having the hardest time. His behavior resembles that of a 2 year old, not a 4 year old...fits, tantrums, saying "no" a lot... just basic defiance. So, we are dealing with that. Hopefully, he will get back to normal as well.
And lastly, my grandma became very sick during this time and passed away. We all thought it was routine gall bladder issues, but there was much more going on in her body. She passed away on February 27. She was a very loved person, and will be missed greatly!
Oh, and I guess there is one more thing. I had been working for MoVIP teaching online this past year. However, the number of students has decreased, so my position ends this month. I will have my last day on March 24. MoVIP will be run by a different organization (MU) for next year, so all teachers are being re-hired. So, I have applied and have had an interview for next year. I do not know anything about that yet.
Anyway, that's what's been going on...

Hayden Matthew is born.

We went to the hospital on February 3 to have Hayden. My doctor was going to induce me, but I ended up going into labor all on my own. After a few hours, he arrived at 3:19. It was a very fast labor. I am so thankful that everything went so well. He weighed 7 lbs 9 oz. He was 19 1/2 inches long. Elijah and Preston seem to have adapted to him quite well. We had a lot of family visit us to welcome Hayden. We are so thankful for our family.

We have a 4 year old!

Can you believe it? We have a 4 year old!! It doesn't seem like 4 years have gone by! Elijah turned 4 on February 2. He is becoming a little man. He has been a huge blessing to our family. We are so thankful to have him in our lives.

Cousins

Grandma Jeanne with all her grandkids: Lindsey, Chloe, Noah, Ryan, Nathan, Preston, and Elijah
All the cousins in order of age: Lindsey, Noah, Elijah, Ryan, Nathan, Preston, Chloe

Preston wearing Daddy's coat

Elijah wearing Daddy's coat